30hugs MelloxNear
by Elisabell-angel enraged
Summary: This is for the 30 hugs challenge on Livejournal. This is a collection of thirty short stories all centered around the hug, please enjoy. MelloxNear, G
1. Chapter 1

Title: Gaze  
Fandom: Death Note  
Theme include theme number: #1, Hazel Eyes  
Characters and Relationship (romantic or platonic): MelloxNear, somewhat romantic  
Rating: G  
Disclaimer if needed: I do not own Death Note, I am not making any money off of this production... But that doesn't mean you get to steal it.  
Summary not compulsory: I only saw a horror movie once.

POV: Near's... First person

A/N: for those who don't know this was made for the 30hugs challenge on livejournal. Thirty fics depicting a couple either platonic or romantic and hugging... Obviously... All are based around one or two words which is the theme...

I only ever saw a horror movie once, and I didn't want to do it. Mello had gotten the new Saw movie, and had already watched it several times, he even bragged to the more scared children about how gorey and violent the movie was. Matt had seen it as well, and some of the kids had asked him if Mello was telling the truth, but Matt would just laugh and say it wasn't very good. He never answered there questions, but they were so perplexed by the fact he was laughing, no one remembered to ask.

Mello had eventually gotten bored of the movie, he knew all the scary parts and the gorey parts so what else was left for him to take enjoyment out of?... Scaring other people. Since Mello was aware of all the scary parts and the viciously violent parts, he would let kids watch it, just so he could see their expressions. The blonde was just getting a huge kick out of scaring the other orphans.

Then one day, he asked me if I wanted to watch it. Staring at me with that huge smirk on his face, and his eyes gleaming with hidden fires, like the thrill of competition was catching up to him again... Only this time, I knew it wasn't the thrill of competition. No, he wanted to see me react. He wanted me to get scared. I didn't want to back down, but I really didn't like seeing blood and guts.

I didn't agree to see it, until I had gotten several death threats and more than a few taunts. Mello grabbed my hand, and drug me into his room, shutting the door behind him. He motioned for me to sit, as he put in the DVD. Mello was still smirking like crazy as he sat down next to me. He skipped the previews faster than the DVD player could comprehend, and clicked play before the menu came up.

He was getting much too exicted over this, and it was almost unbelievable how much he wanted me to show just even the tiniest bit of emotion.

Just as suspected, throughout the whole movie Mello kept staring at me, waiting for me to be shocked or disgusted by the filthy display of gore in front of my eyes... I persisted, keeping as much of my emotions hidden as I could, and it was obvious Mello was dissapointed... Though Mello still had one part, guaranteed to make even the most stoic kids in the house sick at their stomachs. His eyes gleamed menacingly as that terrifying part began, and he watched me intently.

I like a lot of the students, wasn't used to that amount of gore, but it wasn't the gore that really scared me... The man's eyes... They were such a shade of hazel, that it reminded me of something very unpleasant. Something that I'd been trying to forget about, just the look of those eyes brought it back to me. Shivers ran up my spine, and I clutched my knees. I didn't want to show emotion, I couldn't... Apparently I was shivering, but I barely realized it. Mello was looking at me with just a small flicker of concern in his eyes.

I made a small noise, but hastily bit my lip, not wanting to show I was scared. Blood was now dripping off my lips, as I trembled. The DVD was hastily turned off, Mello had gotten more than what he'd bargained for. He was simply staring at me, more than a little confused at the strange situation.

The room fell into silence for a minuit, before Mello couldn't take it anymore. He turned to me, "Near... I ... " He couldn't finish his sentence, and I doubt he knew what he was going to say, anyway. Taking a deep breath, as though getting ready for intense excersize, Mello waited another minuit before speaking again. "Near, I'm... I guess I'm... Sorry..." His voice was nearly inaudible on the last word, but I was appreciating the apology I had gotten. I was just shocked that Mello had given me one at all.

I felt arms wrap around me, and I looked up fast. Completley shocked that it was Mello who was holding me like this. "I'm sorry," he muttered again, this time a bit louder and more confident.

I didn't say anything, and he went silent too. We didn't want or need to say anything else.

I barely even remember the movie, the embrace was the only thing I could remember everything about.


	2. Skills

Title: Skills

Fandom: Death Note

Theme: #2 Rainbows and Butterflies

Characters and relationships: MelloxNear somewhat romantic

Rating: PG just some cursing...

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or the fandoms it inspires. I'm not making any money off of this, either.

Summary: Mello tries to show Near how to paint something interesting.

Mello was going about his usuall daily activities just like he always had done, it was just that those daily activities mainly revolved around stalking Near. Not as if it was particularily interesting, for the kid tended to do similar things every day, but he felt the need to constantly know what it was the albino was doing... More like keeping tabs on his rival, and making sure he wasn't cheating to be the best by doing extra studying or extra credit work.

He noticed that Near was doing something moderatly different than his normal routine. He was painting. It wasn't as if Mello had never seen the kid do that, it was just always in class, whenever he had to. The blonde never thought Near enjoyed painting, that was Linda's hobby, instead the albino just seemed to go about painting as though it was a laborious task. Since this was a sudden break in the routine, Mello just had to investigate.

The chocolate addict walked up behind Near and simply stared at him for a minuit. "What are you doing."

"Painting," was all of an answer that Near gave him.

It pissed Mello off when the kid gave those deliberatly vague answers, and he definetly wouldn't stand for that. "Painting what, dumbass?" He asked in a serious and pissed tone.

Near didn't give any indication that the insult had been registered, and Mello doubted he would get a reaction from that. "Rainbows and butterflies," he said absently twirling a lock of his hair with one hand as the other hand continued to move the brush in a curved pattern.

Mello gaped at the kid, appalled at his answers... Rainbows and butterflies? Near? Near was painting rainbows and butterflies?... The blonde had to work hard not to burst out laughing, and bit his bottom lip in an attempt to stop a chuckle. Looking over Near's shoulder, he noticed it was true. There were several bright multicolored rainbows and a few purplish-blue butterflies with no background. "Wow, you're not very good at this." He said, a smirk threatening to take over his face.

"I never claimed to be," Near responding in that horribly annoying monotone.

"Then why would you do it?" The blonde asked, trying to keep his growing anger in controll.

"I felt like it," Near pointlessly provided. The kid could probably guess this was not the kind of answer Mello wanted so he added, "there's no real reason."

The chocolate addict shrugged, "why rainbows and butterflies, then?"

"Because they are easy to draw. Rainbows are just multi-colored sideways 'C's and butterflies are just four attatched circles with lines out of the top." He droned on like a science lecture, making this easy explanation into something painfull for Mello.

"Do you like them?" It was a stupid question, Mello knew that, but he just felt like asking. Somehow it seemed humorous to him to imagine Near wearing rainbow socks and sleeping on a lilac butterfly pillow. He had to work harder to suppress a chuckle.

"No, I hate them," Near responded as if it were the most normal response in the world.

The blonde was caught off guard. If he hated them, why would he paint them... He knew that if he asked that question Near would just respond with his 'it's easy' excuse, so it'd be pointless. He also didn't want to ask why Near hated those things, because the chocolate addict knew he wouldn't get a straight answer out of the kid. "That's stupid, why don't you paint something more interesting? You're barely even doing it right, I can't even tell it's a butterfly."

"I'd like to see you try painting," Near said obvious humor in the kids voice. "It's not my fault you can't tell it's a butterfly, that sounds more like a problem with your sight rather than my painting skills."

Mello was starting to get more and more angry, and it was becoming more and more difficult not to just punch the kid. Instead he sat down behind Near, and wrapped his arms around the kid. For a second the albino had no idea what Mello was doing, but in a second it became obvious. The only reason Mello had his arms wrapped around him, was so that the blonde could grab his arms and controll Near's painting by moving him manually. "I'll show you, then." The blonde said smirking.

He moved Near's hand to the water and dipped the brush in it, making sure to get rid of all of the previous pigments Near was using. He then unceremoniously took some of the black paint and with a few movements of Near's arm had finished his first figure.

"What in the world is that?" Near asked, he was pretending his attention was on the painting, but in truth he was more or less trying to enjoy this small half-hug he was being given. It was probably the best Near would get, the last hug Mello had given him was a spur of the moment fluke, and this was the next best thing.

Mello barely even noticed that his arms were still around Near, as he smirked wider. "It's a person."

"It's a stick figure," Near corrected, "with a gun in its hand."

Mello chuckled lightly, as he manipulated Near again. He made Near draw another stick figure, this one lying down, then coated the ground beneath that figure in red pigment.

Silence came over the room for a minuit, before Mello said anything more. He released one of Near's hands as he pointed to the gun holding figure. "That's me," he said smirking then pointing to the 'dead' figure, "and that's you."

Near didn't move or say anything, but it was obvious he was a slight bit confused, so the blonde couldn't help chuckling again. "I'm going to be the one that kills you one day," he said, tightening his grip on the small boy.

The albino jerked out of his grip, and moved his brush quickly, putting a light shade of blue on the end of his brush. He then dotted the 'Mello' stick figure's face with small flecks of light blue. "I know you won't kill me," he remarked. "That would upset you far too much."

That was it, that was enough. Mello hastily moved back, shocked. "No fucking way!" He shouted. "I wouldn't be sad, I'd be liberated!"

Near turned to him for the first time in the whole exchange, his face blank. He obviously didn't want to start an argument, so he simply changed the subject. "Do you have a fever? You look a little flushed."

The second that was said however, Mello had already left in a flushing huff.


	3. Gothic Lolita Sheep and Godiva wolf

Title: Bribing the Gothic Lolita sheep and the Godiva wolf.  
Fandom: Death Note  
Theme include theme number: #3 Snap snap!; photograph  
Characters and Relationship (romantic or platonic): MelloxNear it's turning romantic WHOOT...  
Rating: K... As in suitable for nearly anyone, unless you think hugs are sexual... Oh, and a cuss-word or two...  
Disclaimer if needed: I do not own Death Note, and never claimed to... Though I certainly wish I did..

Note: this is a un-beta version... so I do apologize in advance for grammar errors... I'll try to catch the spelling errors...

Mello had started to make a habit of 'casually' dropping by the playroom to spy on Near. He'd started doing this over a week ago, and hadn't noticed anything unusual. Near had a sort of routine that he tended to follow, and he rarely ever broke that routine. It was hardly exciting, but he couldn't help spying anyway. He guessed that he had just gotten into the habit.

So it was only natural that Mello would be surprised to see that Near's routine had been broken. Though 'surprised' didn't even begin to describe his reaction.

"What the hell is going on in here?!" Mello asked half confused and half oddly amused by the situation. For the first time in history, Near was not alone in the playroom. Both Matt and a small collection of senior girls were gathered around him. As shocking as that was, there was an even bigger shock to come. Near was in a dress, and not just any dress... It was the fashion referred to as Gothic Lolita. Frilly, black, laced, and with a good deal of ribbon... That was the only way to describe how Near looked at the moment, and that sight made Mello take a few steps back.

Matt turned and grinned moronically. Mello just wanted to punch that stupid grin off. "It's an exchange of interests," Matt responded in a buisness-like manner. He was obviously trying to downplay how extremely odd this was. The girls all just giggled at Mello's reaction but said nothing. Near seemed to be trying his best just to ignore everyone. It was obvious he would rather be swimming in a shark tank right now. He absently played with his hair, and the girls immediately fussed at him saying that he would mess up the hairpeice.

"What kind of 'exchange' are we talking about?" Mello asked, talking to Matt but keeping his eyes focused on Near. He told himself that the only reason he was staring at Near was because he'd probably never see Near this humiliated again, and he would just stick to that excuse.

"Well, the senior girls all pitched in some money to be able to buy Near the new limited edition Gundam legos that are limited to 15,000 sets... So they told him that he couldn't have it until he did this..." Matt was smirking throughout the entire conversation, and something about that pissed Mello off.

The senior girls were doing quite a bit of squealing about how cute Near was, and how much he looked like a girl... All of it was getting on his nerves, and he knew for a fact that it was getting on Near's nerves too. Not to mention that they had started to take pictures for 'future reference.'

Even though the girls were annoying, Mello couldn't help but find this hilarious. Knowing that Near was mostly likely very humiliated behind that blank face, was just a great feeling. Though he couldn't help but question Matt's odd interest in the situation, and it slightly bothered him for reasons he couldn't explain.

When the fangirl squeals had died down into hurried whispers, Mello knew something was up. In his professional experience fangirls only got quiet when they were scheming something to suit their interest.

Sure enough the girls turned to him with smiles on all of their faces. The bravest of the group, a girl nicknamed Athena, stepped forward with a sly little grin on her face. "Mello," she said in a sing-song voice that made him think she was treating him like a puppy. "Would you like ten bucks?"

Mello could see where this was going, and wanted to refuse before there was a chance for it to get started. "There is no way I'm cross-dressing," Mello would only do that if Near turned it into a contest. In that case there would be no questioning who would win; in terms of looks Mello would definetly beat Near, unless he cheated... Though he could certainly use ten dollars, with that amount of money he could buy several Godiva chocolate bars... It'd been far to long since he'd had anything besides Hersheys...

The girl giggled in a vain attempt to be cute. "Oh, no. We'd never dream of making Mello crossdress." She said pleasantly, swinging back and forth. "You can have the ten dollars if you hug Near and let us take a picture."

Mello simply gaped at the girl's stupidity. Hug? Near? Willingly? The things didn't add up, and he really didn't like to admit to himself that he'd actually hugged Near willing before. He felt sick at his stomach... These psychotic yaoi fangirls were trying to get Mello into their weird BL fetishes... He didn't know if he could possibly do that, and give the girls exactly what they wanted... Though ten dollars did sound nice... Besides, it was only a hug, at least they didn't ask for a kiss.

"Fine," Mello gave in, rolling his eyes. "Though you better take a picture fast, I don't want to stay that way for too long."

The girls gave each other high fives very quickly and readied the camera, as Mello approached the wary Near. He didn't give Near any warning, and quickly wrapped his arms around him pulling his in. He hoped that he wouldn't puke, because he was convinced that being so close to Near was going to make him sick for weeks with his weird albino 'pity me' disease... The feeling in his stomach wasn't a sickness, though he convinced himself that it was. From this close he noticed all of the details of Near's outfit, and how good it looked... Not that it looked good on Near, it just looked good... The black was a good contrast for Near's pale skin, and a simple thought crossed his mind that Near should wear more black. He had a feeling that the girl's had sprayed some perfume on him, though it wasn't a ghastly fruity musk like most of the stuff those girl's wore. He kind of liked it, and inhaled more.

"Mello, the picture was taken a long time ago..." Matt trailed off, almost as though he was afraid of getting his ass kicked for interupting.

Mello suddenly came back to reality, and shoved Near back. Near didn't say anything, and simply turned away. Mello was suddenly very embarrassed, how long had he been standing there like that?

The girl's seemed to be devolving into a silent giggle-fit, and were squealing. He couldn't make out what they were saying but only caught flurries of 'OMG.' He looked over Matt's shoulder and noticed that Near still had his back turned, staring off into space.

Athena walked over to him, and handed him a wad of ones. "Thanks Mello, you lend yourself well to BL," she joked.

Mello glared at her, and automatically the fangirl was silenced. "This better be the best damn Godiva bar I've ever eaten, or else I will kill all of you."

As he bit into the Godiva bar a few days later, he noticed that it was the best bar of chocolate he'd eaten... Though right after this thought came into his head, he threw it away.


	4. Childish

Title: Childish

Fandom: Death Note

Theme: 4) Teddy Bear

Character and relationship: MelloxNear

Rating: PG at worst

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or teddie bears... Those rights go to their origional owners...

When I first came to the orphanage, I didn't have any belongings. I wasn't like the other children and was bored in the presence of others. I kept to myself and more often than not played by myself too. Mello just forced his presence there.

I couldn't tell why he was doing this, for he claimed to hate me. Still, he was here nearly every day just watching me as if wanting an invitation. I knew that even if I asked him to play with me, he would just smirk and shoot me down. He just wanted to be asked.

He only ever spoke once. He asked me, "don't you ever miss being around other people?" It was a strange and out-of-the-blue question.

I replied in my typical way, "no."

He probably knew I was lying.

He had to have, for a few days later I returned to my room to find a small ratty teddy bear.

I looked at the foreign object, not really knowing what to think. It's arms were wide open and it had a small stringed smile on it's face. I held it up from an arm, inspecting it as though I expected it to fade away within seconds. I had never had a bear before, for I surely didn't need one. That kind of thing was for small children.

I found no note, no writing at all to indicate that someone had wanted to give it to me... I did catch it's scent. Beneath the scent of age that it was teeming with, was the faint scent of chocolate. My mind turned to Mello, even though I knew that he would never give me something like this. He despised me with all he could. He wouldn't give me something so old that it might have been important, let alone anything at all.

Still, as I hugged it close I could smell the comforting scent and almost feel human warmth from this object.

Maybe I was still a child, no matter how I persisted in believing I wasn't.


End file.
